Fix Lower Back Pain with Iyengar Yoga Therapy

Posted Jul 07 2008 7:03pm

Long air travel has been never been good for my lower back and this recent trip back from Canada brought it back with a vengeance. I have been back-ache free for many many months. There was no personal class withNuvanathis week so I decided to attend her back-care class on Saturday at Sunset Yoga Center.

The class was overflowing - wow! I barely squeezed in. She asked by a raise of hands on how many of us were suffering from lower back pain. Majority raised the hands. I was expecting the usual poses, butNuvanahad a different sequence today. The class started with aDandasana, with real focus on lifting up the spine. We quickly moved toTadasana. FromTadasana, it wasurdhavahastasanaand thenUtkatasana. She focused on making sure that the back was straight and the buttocks moved down. That action of pushing the buttocks down and stretching of the upper back is key to relaxing the lower back muscles. That brings immediate relief.We then moved to doing an arm stretch on the wall and the slipping down to a halfUttanasana. The focus is again on stretching the spine, and creating some space for the lower back to relax. The next set of poses involved using a chair to perform a forward bend while sitting on the chair, but tying a strap around your lower waist. This was followed by a twist on either side while in a forward bending position.Then a standing pose against the wall with one leg on the chair in a square position and pushing the bent leg back to the wall while pushing the opposite leg to be flush with the wall. This pose was amazing for the back as the pressure was applied to thegluteusmuscles to tighten and give the relief and space to the back muscles.By the time we approached the lastasanaof the class - a supportedbadhakonasana/savasanamy lower back pain had disappeared. Its been over 24 hours and there has been no recurrence. Not only did my back get relief, I was relaxed and felt I had a decent workout as well.As I left I had convinced one new student that this was the way to go. My colleague mentioned that her headaches had improved after her first class withNuvana. This is the power ofNuvana'ssequence of yoga poses andIyengarYoga Therapy. ThanksNuvana!NamasteThe Yogi.